Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-07

FORT ORTIZ, Ten, July u IcSHl
Trade was fair average to-day in all
lines.
Whest is quite active, with prices firm.
Lemons have al upward tendency.
GAS AND OIL.
Following are some extracts from an
article read ct the late meeting OF the
OHIO Mining Institute by Professor Ed
ward orion, state geoIogist of Ohio, q
man OF great industry and ability who
has given some years of careful study 10
the natural gas and oil production in Ohio
and elsewhere. The professor informs
Us that the Trenton limestone underlie5
the entire state of Ohio, cropping out at
q single point only, and that 81 low water
mark IL the bed of the Ohio river II
lies st depths below tide water, varying
from forty feet in the extreme southern
part of the state to 500 and 1000 feet in
the northern section, along the south
coast OF Like Erie. We quote from the
address:
cine oil and gas deposits in the Tren-
ton limestone doubtless owe their origin
70 animal and vegetable matter inst was
deposited in the limestone when il was
forming, and the probability IS that most
of the matter so incorporated was animal
in It's nature, because the limestones were
built up by means Of animal agencies,
and there must be organic matter in them.
But organic matter mas to take some more
prominent form, and when it has reached
3 stable condition the fight of ages does
not, Of necessity, alter or disturb It.
1T is q common mistake TO consider
oil 3 rare substance in nature. 1t is not
rare, but is universally difused among
stratided rocks, except where they have
been transformed by heat, Ii generally
occurs in small quantities, but the aggre-
gate is immense.
Throughout Northwestern Ohio the
drill first passed through from 800 to
1000 feet OF Upper SiIurian and DeYOnian
HmestOnes, and the total quantity of OF!
II the sO-Called Unproductiye part Of the
wei! IS greater than any supply ever found
81 the bottom Of the well,
"These upper limestCnes often show
One-ifth Of one per cent. Of petroleum,
and every hundred feet CT such limestone
would yield more than q million barrels
Cf Oil to each square mile which Is
greater than the production of the richest
Held. The point is that this oil cannot
be accumulated.
"Where IS this petroleum formed;
Along the shores OF those measureIess
sess IN ancient days where the limestone
was deposited there was formed the oil
that men now seek with drill and pump.
The petroleum was formed BY peculiar
decomposition of animal and vegetable
substances, and it is not one of natures
lost arts. The process still continues,
but on q small scale. Petroleum can be
formed by heat and distilIation, but it
can also be formed without high temper
atures, and all the great sources fall in
the last category. Petroleum IS break
IGg up into gas, but there does not ap-
pear to be sufficient reason TO think that
much new petroleum is forming. The
quantity already in the storehOuse of the |
earth IS so vast that there hardly seems
room for fresh additions to it. All the
stocks OF petroleum that are known of are
the results OF accumulation continued
through vast periods OF past time
periods which years are as Inadequate to
measure as miles are to compute the dis
lance Of the sun.